Carrick Under-18 Girls Win Munster Title
In atrocious weather conditions in Bruff, Carrick-on-Suir’s Under-18 girls rounded off a magnificent season when claiming the Munster League title with a 7-5 win over Mallow.
The Carrick-on-Suir Under-18 squad, which has literally blazed a blue-and-red trail from the season’s kick-off, demonstrated buckets of resolve and guile to emerge victorious despite the bad weather.
This was a victory won with good old-fashioned Munster grunt, on a day when both packs gainfully stuck to their task.
After half an hour of rugby predominantly played between both 10-metre lines, Carrick took the lead when Chloe Blackmore crossed the heavily muddied whitewash.
She subsequently converted her own try to leave Carrick 7-0 ahead, and that is how it remained up to half-time.
The pattern established before the interval was largely replicated in a combative, energy-sapping second half, as both teams gave their all – playing the game in a tremendous sporting spirit which reflected well on both sets of players and their coaches.
While Mallow eked out a try of their own in the 15th minute of the second half, they crucially failed to add on the conversion.
Thereafter, Carrick largely dominated territorially and in the final 10 minutes found themselves camped inside the Mallow 22, but could not find a way through a teak-tough Corkonian defence.
But the hard work was well and truly done by then and Carrick ended the match with a two-point buffer and were deserved champions of Munster.
This victory provided captain Aoife Moore, Faye Drohan, Karen Ryan and Donna Maher with the perfect farewell from the underage grade, as senior rugby now beckons for them.
The Carrick club wishes all four players well with their future careers, which they have no doubt will reap great rewards for each of this talented quartet.
Congratulations to the Carrick girls on a magnificent, ground-breaking success.
Not only have they brought great honour to the club, they have also been fantastic ambassadors off the pitch and are a credit to their coaches, their parents and, most importantly of all, to themselves.
CARRICK-ON-SUIR U-18s: Kelly Walsh, Sarah English, Aine Lyons, Kate English, Ellen Commins, Zoe Lynch, Chloe Blackmore, Donna Maher, Karen Ryan, Eimear Bourke, Shauna Hanlon, Jean Power, Faye Drohan, Chloe Smith, Aoife Moore (capt).
Replacements: Aimee Treacy, Eimear Ryan, Sinead McGrath.
Related Links –